Progressive Democrats of Worcester

... Improving the GNH - Gross National Happiness - is our aim. We hope all our governments, local to national, conform to human principles, supportive of a living wage in decent jobs, with environmental safegaurds, among many priorities ...

Saturday, September 18, 2010

OK, we won a big victory, as President Obama turns the corner on financial reform and appoints Elizabeth Warren to lead the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (at least at the beginning)!! I can't even begin to express my relief that this is happenning.

Please, every Progressive that helped make this happen, take a bow, pat yourself on the back, and DO NOT STOP. We first need to make Warren's appointment permanent. Then we need a populist uprising at her back to insure the financial oligarchy that captured our government is running for the hills.

Friday, August 21, 2009

The Progressive Democrats of Worcester is no longer a chapter of PDAmerica.org. As the point of origin of the name, the blog, discourse and commentary, I claim all copyrights under the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Blog entries that may have been authored by others have been removed. Thanks for understanding.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A few of us here in PDW drove down to Darmouth August 18th, to participate in the Town Hall meeting called by Congressman Barney Frank. Well worth the drive. While I love our Congressman, he just doesn't have the "ethnic heritage" for such chutzpah. Hoorah, Barney, way to go!

"Ma’am, having a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table, I have no interest in doing it."

On a more serious note, I had the opportunity to ask Barney about ACES and the derivatives market that will emerge from its enactment. Quote "we will regulate this derivatives market to insure safe passage of ACES." The future of the world is in your hands, Barney. Thanks for caring.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Should be no suprise to anyone that I espouse the peak oil thesis of why we have economic troubles, and will have for some time to come. Hence, I'm a bit of fan of James Howard Kunstler, and hope he succeeds waking up America.

In circles that pass for “progressive” these days, the natives are getting restless. Their agitation seems pretty inchoate for the moment — still resting on vague, poorly-defined wishes for “change.” These vague promptings need to be focused on specific action that is realistic within the context of comprehensive contraction and transformation. A big piece of this would be the recognition that our suburban sprawl economy is dying, and that we now have to bend our efforts to reorganizing American life on the most fundamental physical terms. We have to inhabit the landscape differently, move around it differently, generate food out of it differently, and make things on it again. Whatever remaining real capital there is in the system can’t be squandered on cash bonuses for Wall Street employees. (see post)

Any progressive politics (as this blog presumes) must be based on a likely vision of the future. Rebuilding a plausible economic future for Worcester means dealing with peak oil reality, a sustainable energy future using the means we have now, like wind & solar, and a relocalization of all the essential goods and services on which society depends. I've posted before on Small is Beautiful and its corollary, Relocalize Now.

The next Mayor and City Council of Worcester need to adopt a new vocabulary. Don't trust any candidate for pubic office who doesn't know what it means to relocalize or prepare for a sustainable future. Building another cog for the global economy will only waste precious time in preparing for the emergent reality. Joe, hope you're listenning.